A classified US diplomatic cable under the name of Patricia A. Butenis, the US ambassador to Colombo shows, the Presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka stood by the controversial “white Flag” story published by the Sunday Leader.

The cable written on December 14, 2009 at 13.50pm by the ambassador Butenis and classified as “Confidential” recount the details of a lunch meeting she had with UNP deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya and Sarath Fonseka on December 14, 2009.

“After Fonseka arrived, the former general discussed his interview in the Sunday Leader news paper on December 13, in which he had accused Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa of ordering at the end of the war the shooting of any LTTE leaders who might try to surrender under flags of truce.” she wrote to Washington. The ambassador further wrote “Fonseka claimed he did not know until two days later about the flurry of phone calls between Gotabhaya, the Norwegian ambassador, and the LTTE leadership regarding surrender and said he had been told details by journalists. Nevertheless, he said he took full responsibility for the actions of the men in uniform.” The Colombo Telegraph publishes the full cable below.

The editor Sunday Leader Frederica Jansz was given an interview by Fonseka and it was published under the name title of “Gota Ordered Them to Be Shot” – Genaral Sarath Fonseka” on December 13, 2009. Read the story here

After the story broke, the government began to portray Fonseka’s allegation as an act of treachery. The story of the massacre was irrelevant. What mattered was that by speaking out Fonseka was betraying Gotabaya, the army and the country.

Frederica Jansz – subjected to smear campaigns

A government backed campaign to publicise particularly in Sinhala, a distorted version of the story, and present the General as a traitor. The objective behind the campaign was to convince the General that his accusations were eroding his popularity and to force him to back down in the interest of winning more votes. This campaign began immediately after the newspaper went on sale with radio shows denouncing the story as an act of treachery by early Sunday morning.

It was only as the government’s denunciation campaign intensified with TV, radio, and internet sites declaring the former war hero a traitor that Fonseka’s advisors Mangala Samaraweera, Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Vijitha Herath in particular advised him to retract part of the story.

At a meeting with the Chairman of The Sunday Leader, Lal Wickrematunge on Monday, December 14, senior UNP leaders together with Samaraweera and the JVP insisted that a retraction was necessary as the story had damaged Fonseka’s reputation as a patriot.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 001139
C O R R E C T E D COPY - ADDED PASSING INSTRUCTIONS
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INSB
RELEASABLE TO: UK, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, SWITZERLAND
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2019
TAGS: PGOVPRELPREFPHUMPTEREAIDMOPSCE
SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: ELECTIONS UPDATE NO. 1
REF: COLOMBO 539
COLOMBO 00001139 001.6 OF 002
Classified By: AMBASSADOR PATRICIA A. BUTENIS. REASONS: 1.4 (B, D)
¶1. (SBU) Introduction: As an air of anticipation builds in
Sri Lanka in advance of the upcoming Sri Lankan elections,
including a presidential election scheduled for January 26
and a parliamentary election anticipated for later in the
spring, post will provide update reports as events dictate,
with emphasis on the quick relay of breaking news. This is
the first such update. Post will provide more in-depth
analysis in separate cables.
FONSEKA, UNP DETAIL ELECTION
ISSUES FOR AMBASSADOR
----------------------------
¶2. (C) At a December 14 lunch for Ambassador and DCM, to
which General Fonseka also dropped in, host UNP deputy head
Karu Jayasuriya said the UNP-JVP "alliance" was not a
coalition, though all were for a return to democracy.
Jayasuriya had a long list of complaints about media
harassment by the government and Rajapaksa corruption and
"family rule." As for the Tamils, the UNP leader said he
believed they all wanted "regime change" because of the way
they had been treated by the Rajapaksas. After Fonseka
arrived, the former general discussed his interview in the
Sunday Leader newspaper on December 13, in which he had
accused Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa of ordering at
the end of the war the shooting of any LTTE leaders who might
try to surrender under flags of truce. (NOTE: These killings
were detailed in the State Department Report to Congress on
Incidents at the End of the War, and in RefTel, though
details of the orders issued were not known to the report
authors. END NOTE.) Fonseka claimed he did not know until
two days later about the flurry of phone calls between
Gotabhaya, the Norwegian ambassador, and the LTTE leadership
regarding surrender and said he had been told details by
journalists. Nevertheless, he said he took full
responsibility for the actions of the men in uniform.
¶3. (C) As for Fonseka's chances at the upcoming January 26
election, he and Jayasuriya believed they could win ) if the
election were free and fair. They calculated that if voter
turnout were over 80 percent, they would win. This was why,
they claimed, the Rajapaksas were focused on keeping turnout
low. Even in the southern districts, home to both President
Rajapaksa and Fonseka, the election was up for grabs because
of local dissatisfaction with Rajapaksa corruption and
cronyism. Finally, on the question of the desired role of
the international community in the elections, Jayasuriya made
a strong pitch for IC involvement to help ensure a free and
fair election and level playing field.
UNF CHALLENGES PRESIDENT TO DEBATE
----------------------------------
¶4. (C) On December 13, the joint Opposition held a press
conference which included Gen. Fonseka, JVP leader Somawansa
Amarasinghe and UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe. Amarasinghe
challenged President Rajapaksa to agree to a public debate
with Gen. Fonseka, but there has not yet been any response
from the Rajapaksa camp. At lunch with the Ambassador,
Fonseka and Jayasuriya both said they did not expect
Rajapaksa to agree to a debate, joking that it would be hard
for him to speak without a teleprompter.
PILLAYAN WAVERING -- AGAIN
--------------------------
COLOMBO 00001139 002.4 OF 002
¶5. (C) After a party meeting on December 11, the TMVP
released a statement that appeared to back off earlier
statements by its leader, Pillayan, that the TMVP would
support President Rajapaksa. Observers have stated that
Pillayan's December 2 pledge of support to the President
angered many in his TMVP ranks, and that they forced him to
retreat from that position.
TNA WISH LIST
-------------
¶6. (C) TNA MP Suresh Premachandran told media on December 12
that his party colleagues had agreed on four main points to
demand of any candidate they pledge to support. The four
demands reportedly included a full account of those reported
disappeared or arrested during the war; to resettle all
displaced persons; to withdraw from High Security Zones and
enable resettlement of these lands; and to work out a
political settlement. Premachandran said a delegation of TNA
representatives had met with Senior Presidential Advisor
Basil Rajapaksa on December 7 to discuss these conditions,
and that TNA leader R. Sampanthan had presented the list to
UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya. In a meeting with PolOff
on December 11, TNA MP Pathmini Sithamparanathan implied that
there were still divisions within the TNA about what issues
they would push in any negotiations, and doubts about how
much they could expect to demand for their support.
RAJAPAKSA ORDERS POSTERS DOWN
-----------------------------
¶7. (C) The President announced on December 14 that he had
ordered the police to take down any campaign-related posters,
including his own, as they all violated elections law.
Colombo has been blanketed with pictures of the president and
his brothers, including at least one enormous full profile
picture of Rajapaksa that measures some 60 feet tall.
Fonseka posters just began appearing around town over the
weekend of December 12-13, including one large
billboard-sized poster on the road from the center of town to
the parliament building. On a recent trip to Galle, EconOff
sighted well over 1,300 Rajapaksa posters along the 100 km
route. Not more than 20 Fonseka posters were seen on the
same drive, and some of these had been either damaged or
partially covered by Rajapaksa posters. The Southern
Province is known as Rajapaksa's home turf. At Jayasuriya's
lunch, he told the Ambassador that the Rajapaksa campaign had
over 40,000 cut-outs of the President created, nearly half of
which had been placed in greater Colombo.
BUTENIS

81 Responses to WikiLeaks: Fonseka Did Discuss The “White Flags Story” With US

I would also like to salute the editors and journalists of the Sunday Leader for their courageous stand against a government that is famous all over the world for its bloodthirstiness.
I disagree that publishing the story about the massacre of surrendering LTTE leaders was a mistake, or that more confirmatory information needed to be produced by the Sunday Leader in order to verify the story. Fonseka had heard it and apparently believed it. Janusz contacted other military and government leaders who refused to deny the story and reacted as if the story was true. It is Fonseka who needs to stand up and provide the proof of his story, which he had at least 3 opportunities to disavow, but instead told the SL that he would stand by his allegations. The Sunday Leader had a responsibility to publish this story – Fonseka has to come forward with all his evidence. The whole world outside of Sri Lanka knows that the government committed crimes against humanity during their countrinsurgency campaign against the LTTE and their supporters. The real terrorists are the Sri Lankan military (including Fonseka) and the Rajapaksa government.

American War Drama staged the world over is not somthing new. They need conflicts and wars to keep their economy and hegemony going and growing. The US feels the time is rife for hostilities to cease in the region and ours as well, to do business with China and India with a three and a half Billion population. First they try through the Norwegian brokered peace deal, the CFA through RW promising $ 4.5 billion for development. When it backfires, they realise trying to obtain the solution through RW is out. Then they change their game plan by backing MR and get VP to boycot the election to prevent RW coming through, to be certain. VP has no choice in the matter as it is they who call the shots. Although RW complains the EU request him to allow the process. Gota and Basil having entered the US with the Green Card, is trained and briefed of the events to follow and is sent backk to take office. Then the War Drama commences. LTTE defies CFA, closes the Mawillaru anicut and draws the MR govt. Forces for a war. MR govt. closes the NE for all Independent observers, NGO’s and even the UN staff with no protests from the International body, not even India or Tamil Nadu. MR govt. opens a Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) to monitor and disseminate news of the War. Heavy fighting is reported with scores of LTTE cadres being killed claimed by the MR govt. and counter claims by the LTTE that equal scores of Forces killed by the LTTE. There is no whimper of protest from across the Palk-Straight when the MR govt claims openly that they will annihilate the LTTE. A heavily mined NE which after three years of being demined, after the war ended, where the demining teams states it will take another ten years to clear, the whole NE, except the last strong hold of Killinochchi is captured under two and a half years and brought under the Govt. Forces control by August 2008, just prior to the NCP Provincial Council Elections. The MR govt. proudly announces that the Forces are at the door step of the last strong hold of the LTTE Kilinochchi being surrounded by the Forces. LTTE hypes the War stating that if the Forces enter Kilinochchi, the A9 road will be a river of blood of the Forces. However soon after the NCP elections heavy down pour of the Monsoons occurs and the strategy changes of the Forces not entering Killinochchi but moving elsewhere. Was this not a strategy to allow the LTTE and the civilian population who were holed up, to remain in Killinochchi till the Monsoons settled? If the weather was the damper, why did the Forces brave the weather and went elsewhere? as they could have done the same at Kilinochchi and finished the job? Once the weather settled, they enter Kilinochchi with a bang in January 2009 and find the LTTE along with the civilian population of around three hundred and eighty thousand civilians had moved a distance of around 60 miles to Puthkudiirippu, separated from the mainland by a lagoon. Was the forces unaware of such exodus till it was complete and realised after only entering kilinochchi? It is then announced by the MCNS that the LTTE is using the civilians as a Human Shield and are massacreing any civilian who defies to leave. Yet civilians by the thousands per day arrive on the mainland using rubber dingies and boats. Were the LTTE sleeping? Who provided the rubber dingies and boats that were shuttled for the rest to escape in to the security controlled area? Was it VP or the Forces? Then comes the last bit of the drama, the surrender of the LTTE and the civilians who remained with the LTTE, numbering around a forty thousand. Before India and Tamil Nadu realised, the job of massacre is complete. SF knowing it was Gota’s decesion for the massacre, tries to reveal the truth but realises he will be tried for treason and punished with death. So he retracts his statement. The parties involved that helped MR to finish the war, the US, India and Tamil Nadu are unable to elicit devolution through MR, although they expected MR to deliver. MR is unable to do so because RW is still on the political scene. It is not a difficulty to remove RW assasinating him. The problem is his successor whoever will do the same to MR and these plotters are going to be the loosers. Therefore having RW around, MR’s life is assured till something is worked out by the architects of the War Drama. The last question is why did the LTTE bury all their sophisticated arms, if they were not ready to take on the Govt. Forces to War, closing the Mawilaru anicut? Is it not to make MR a War Victor to polarise the Sinhalese to accept MR as the sole saviour of this Sinhalese Buddhist Nation? The ideal corrupt mediocre village bumpkin to handle the brief of the world powers? The drama completes with the arrival of KP to take over the North after VP and the forty thousand LTEers are decimated. The kid glove approach towards MR by the US and India, while the Human Rights Watch Dogs are growling is understandable, with watered down resolutions. Ohoma yang, Ohoma yang!

You must be kidding. We have lived in fear of our lives for 30 years. Who is investigating the conduct of LTTE who kept people under death threat. How many politicians, service men, teachers, cleargy and all who did not agree with them were bumped off. The inquiry should be directed to the whole of 30 years of mayham not the last 10 days of the war. There were 11,000 days of blood thirsty mockery of the LTTE, why talk of the last 11 days.

Raju, yes the LTTE perpetrated violence for thirty years, there is no issue denying and nor did I. What is important is how MR who boasts of defeating the LTTE, the manouvering that went on, is what is in question?

Long life, the Sunday Leader and Frederica Jansz.
Under the Editor ship of Frederica Jansz, so far, what they have written never proved untrue.
Today WikiLeaks has produced their witness to the Frederica’s news item about white flag case of General Sarath Fonseka.
One day General Fonseka will admit and relate the full story of White Flag case. Let us wait and see.

Certainly my dear! I am not a fan of the Government of Sri Lanka either. However, you are trying to portray the LTTE like,some innocent little victim children of Columbine High school. During the War, Armed forces has the right to protect the country it is representing. However, after the war is over it is a different case.
In this matter, not only the government of sri lanka. but also , blood thirsty, haters like you who sent money to the betterment of LTTE is need to clean your blood hands.
If Fonseka is guilty of anything, let him suffer. But, i would rather have him proven guilty in an impartial court.
I don’t know you anyone believe like you, but my path says that, ” Hate never ceased by hate but by love”
If we have your attitude then, after king Elara, there would not have been a single Tamil in Sir Lanka.

This is like after all the blood bath, take a bath in Gangi River and all your sins are going away.. Be real, when terrorist’s whose hand are full with blood coming with while flag. you think soldiers going to take them with open arms. What do you think this is US Army. Even then, how many LTTE sympathizers do they harbor start with Rudrakumaran.
Because Wijeweera was eliminated, today JVP is a illegitimate Political party regardless they still have long way to go. So, do not cry for those who came with white flags because they are not Babies, They are Anti-Sri Lanka.
It may be started slow, but, I am sure someday those areas in Jaffna will be rebuild and people will be back to their way of life as life goes on.

The murder of surrendering forces under the white flag is a crime in any war. If this happened in Sri Lanka, then everyone down the command chain is responsible. That is to say Gen. Fonseka is as responsible as President Rajapaksa. However, until the facts are disclosed all this is in the realm of allegation. In the fog of war many things happen and it possible that we will never know the truth, as we were not there to witness it. I would encourage the government, the armed forces, civil society organizations such as the UTHR, etc. to investigate the claims using all legal means necessary. Truth and Reconciliation go hand in hand if we can somehow learn from other experiences even if they are imperfect.

Do you think the disturbed little Gota brought back from his job in the petrol shed in los angeles to be secretary of defence would want the the top tigers talking about monies paid to keep Ranil votes out?

The big bag of money Ranil got from Norway to hand part of the country to LTTE is worth mentioning. Even after this political suicide, LTTE did not stop their blood thirsty ways to join the political process. They violated the CFA more that 10,000 times to loose everything at the end.

Get well soon K Duminda!!!! or go with Bharatha. Dear Fredrica, you are a courageous woman who stood by your story without going on your knees as alleged by the JVP hoodlums who put words into the General’s mouth. These JVP hoodlums and Mongal are the worst Character-Assassins in SriLanka politics

Well said Ravi…….don’t blame journalist for calling a spade a spade and bringing out the truth and nothing but the truth…….SL mentality is LIE & LIE THRU YOUR ASS WHEN YOU CAUGHT PANTS DOWN…….EXCUSESS +++++ TO SAVE YOUR ASS AND DENY THE FACTS, NEVER ADMIT.

Its such a pity that sections of this country are only interested in the ‘truth’ as long as it appeals to them. Journalists are supposed to state facts as they are and not worry about whether it is affecting someone’s campaign or agenda. That’s what the spin doctors and campaign managers are for. The Watergate scandal would never have broken if the journalists concerned were worrying about whose feelings they would be hurting and whose agenda they would be destroying. Similarly – programs like Panorama on BBC bring information to the public that would be normally unavailable, such as the memos issued by the Bush administration ordering water boarding and other forms of torture of Guantanamo Bay prisoners. It is only because of journalists who are interested in uncovering layers of BS to get to the truth, that we the public have an opportunity to know what is really going on. If people are unable to handle reading information that is unpalatable to them, then why not bury their heads in the sand and let the rest of us who are interested continue to read up. It is high time that Sri Lankans grew up and learned to take the bitter with the sweet and make informed judgements instead of taking decisions through some form of emotional hysteria.
Well done both the Sunday Leader and the Colombo Telegraph!

As a lay person, I always think that a journalist has a responsibility when handling very sensitive information like this. It puts the whole country’s dignity and the credibility at stake. What dd the editor wanted ? A senstional headline which will sell the newspaper..Never mind the repurcussions it could bring on your country.
Now the damage is done. The Government handled the issue well and made a traitor out of a hero. The damage the leader sory did to SF is immesurable. Whatever the editor wttes in english doesn’t reach the villager. The damage is done.

This cannot be Duminda Siva. Presently he has no time of think of anything other than accusation of murder and worried about his business.
The person who is using Duminda name must be another KUDU man.
Sir, you do not have guts to say your true name and claimed that Fredrica Janz is traitor!
You are worst a traitor to Mother Lanka. Do you know what is Journalism?
If you are a staff Mahindarajapaksas Kingdom, how we can expect you to understand values.
Go and Fly a kite.

I remember Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that he witnessed Fedrica was on her knees to seek forgiveness from SF and she cried. And he was saying that “tears of a women can make a huge change”.
This is how these lairs try to cheat people. He wanted to have a false excuse for not pressing Sunday Leader to withdraw the story. These high-rank JVP morons think that these kind of cheap tactics are enough to answer the increasingly frustrating grass root-level JVP carders who blindly accept whatever the top says.
NOW THIS ANURA KUMARA AND HIS JVP RASCALS ARE PAYING FOR IT.

This is another fiction like High Commissioner for Human Rights cried in the UN when Mahinda Samarasinge was accussing her.
Dear leanred(may be)friend ,
Editors, Journalists, Lawyers, Human Rights activists and few other courageous professional cry only when there is something within their family and with their family members.
Not for for these petit issue.
You should understand that Frederica Jansz is an Editor of the Sunday Leader, took up this responsibility soon after Lasanth was assassinated by SO CALLED UNKNOWN GUNMEN.
Please stop talking through your hat.

The people of this country easily forget things and they always want hear only what they want to hear. It really does not matter what the truth is.
Right now these blind people believe Wimal Weerawansa, Karuna & Pilliyan are more patriotic than the General SF.

Hi Karn
what you mean by western interrest? Some of talk like fools. If there is western interrests, those colonial masters wouldnt have left the Island.
By the way what about Chinese domination in Sri Lanka? Do you all agree it.
It is well known that the Sunday Leader is the only independent voice in Sri Lanka and they are paying and paid price for it.
What is ptriotism? Killing Journalists, MPs, Lawyers, raping women, kindapping journalists, etc.
Stop your nonsense and write facts.

We are talking about terrorists who have no qualms about sending pregnant women with to C4 explosives wrapped around their bellies to kill innocent civilians! LTTE were given plenty of chances to surrender but they did not take up. So if Gota did give that order in the grand finale- by all means he has done our country a great service as he probably avoided a mass suicide that would have cost the lives of many more Sri Lankan soliders. I am not a fan of this government for a lot of reasons but do certainly respect the Rajapakse’s for wiping out the LTTE. Unfortunately for the opposition campaign SF has proved without any doubt that he had much less to do with the real victory than did Gotabaya Rajapakse!

If so, Gota would have been proclaimed as the world’s best DF.
So then, India’s defence minister (& establishment) on punnaku?!!
After 20 yrs of retirement I do not think Gota had the know how
(What stops him being labled a deserter is that he paid the fee for discharge, but it was a time when we were losing badly)
He does however get the credid for the ‘white vans’
The people that gave up a meal and sent their children to the front deserves the credit
Also, the 4 year plan is a SF by design (Chandrika should have taken that option a decade ago)

Mate, Gadafi , Sadam Husain etc are dictators. Sri Lankan version is Rajapaksa who put opposition leaders into the prison. Where is Democracy in our Country. Fonseka was jailed after a trial which happened in closed doors. Judges were Rajapaksa boot lickers.

You can fool some ppl sometime but not all the ppl all the time….he should be hanged for his comments..he shouldnt be using hearsay as facts..I am not surprised that he is in the jail..should rot in hell..

All I see in this story is that Fonseka was not aware of the story, but as a true General he was ready to take the responsible for his army. So, though you like it or not, he shows that he done his duty for his country.
After killing innecent people including many innecent tamils, who the hell want to fogive those ruthless LTTE.
Diasporas who funded LTTE to massacare innecent people should be taken to court for human right violation too.. UN..

The government defending 30 years of attrocities sensible people in the battle field know full well cannot be halted within seconds. The war is a process and takes time to make deceisions. Did Geroge Bush able to stope the Iraq was the moment they found there were no weapons of mass distruction? What is going on is LTTE money, which is collected even now. We have to find fault with LTTE for not putting any of this money for the welfare of the Tamil people living in the North or East. LTTE monies went for killing and more killing.

I have seen a videoclip where an American Helicopter bombed and half killed some Iraqis and then the pilot circling around the wounded and asked marines in the helicopter to finish them.After a few machine gun rounds 3 people writhed and stopped moving amid the laughters of pilot and marines.A war crime by shooting wounded?Nooooooo because we are Americans and we can do whatever we want in this world.My two nephews had been killed by LTTE as they went to advice farmers as agricultural officers.They were tied upon and burned to death by throwing on burning hay.They never stood any chance for surrendering or anything. 700 Police officers had been killed after they surrendered after Premadasa ordered them to surrender.Human rights activists or USA government never asked LTTE about it even after the so called peace pact. Am sure Gotabhaya never ordered things like that as Sarath Fonseka never says he heard it from Shavendra or Gota but from some other.Then he has to tell who said that to him or have to face conseqences for smearing the name of military in front of a court martial.He was bought by USA to attack the government. I could drink blood of LTTE for killing my nephews and I ask all these sympathisers what would they do if LTTE burned their son,daughter,nephew,mom or dad to death?

this is an easy answer. If a terrorist ( A monkey with a weapon or a bomb ) threaten one person or a whole nation he ( the terrorist ) must be put down no matter what it takes. Goat and the Sri Lankan Forces did it. Thanks Gota we can see your vision and the decisions now days. Thanks for killing those retards and sweep them out of this planet forever. The future monkeys ( the humans ) will thank your decision for sure, if you didn’t do it or not , somebody have to do it, If I was there I would have done it in Hitlers style.. yes its dirty work. But somebody have to kill those stone dick worshiping dogs with weapons ether you hang them through a criminal court or shoot them on the spot like dogs. Thank you for saving a country economy and its peace loving people. This is a small step for Sri Lankans I mean the killing of LTTE Terrorists. But it’s a BIG LEAP towards humanity . Its time for the diaspora which supported LTTE terrorism to put the remaining Tamil retards and the ruling government into a more secure/beautiful cunt tree.

Americans and British Talk out their Back side B***eds. Look what they did in Iraq Afganisthan and the latest Libiya. These F****rs are Bankrupt so they are looking for Oil wells to syphon money. now that sri lanka got oil they will come after SL as well.
Sri lankan opposition liking US and British arse thinking the arseholes can change the government.

SF SAVE OUR NATION WITH COURAGE AND DEDICATION ALL THAT IS NOW FORGOTTEN BY THIS RAJA PARAYA AND HIS CORRUPT UNDERWORLD GANG DEAR SRI LANKANS IF YOU WANT SAVE THIS COUNTRY FROM THESE PARAYAS GET RID OFF THESE KUDDAS AT ANY COST.